HYDERABAD: Gautam Adani-owned Navi Mumbai International Airport expects to start international operations in April-June, after obtaining clearance for night flying operations in the next month, the company’s top executive said.
“We are in the process of getting the night flight permit, after which the next step will be to start 24-hour domestic operations and in the first quarter of FY27 we will start international operations,” Arun Bansal, chief executive officer of Adani Airport Holdings Ltd, told Mint at the Wings India 2026 event in Hyderabad on Wednesday.
Bansal also reiterated the need to ease bilateral agreements to allow foreign airlines to operate more flights to India – at least until Indian airlines build up sufficient capacity.
Bansal told reporters in October that international airlines are expected to join after the airport receives permits for night operations. Foreign carriers will get a one-year waiver on parking fees, which domestic carriers will not receive, Bansal said at the time.
Navi Mumbai airport started operations a little over a month ago, with its first flight on 25 December. The airport is open from 8 am to 8 pm daily and can handle up to 10 flights per hour. India’s top three airlines – IndiGo, Air India and Akasa Air – and regional carrier Star Air have started domestic operations from Navi Mumbai airport.
Since 25 December 2025, there have been 23 daily departures from the airport. This is expected to increase to 34 daily departures starting in February, the operator said in a press statement in November.
Teething issues
The airport crossed 100,000 passengers within the first 19 days of commercial operations, according to the latest update. Navi Mumbai airport faces teething issues with regard to network connectivity. Lack of mobile network signals and patchy coverage have been reported at the newly inaugurated airport.
NMIAL is the eighth airport owned by Adani Airports Holding, a wholly owned subsidiary of Adani Enterprises, which is the flagship company of the Ahmedabad based conglomerate.
Adani Airports operates and manages airports in India primarily through public-private partnerships. They include Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Mangaluru, Jaipur, Guwahati, Thiruvananthapuram, Mumbai and Navi Mumbai airports.
The airport business contributed 10% to the total consolidated income of Adani Enterprises and 21% to the total Ebitda. Income from the airport business jumped 27% to ₹8,062 crore in FY25.
Adani Airports is the second-largest airport operator in India in terms of revenue, behind GMR, which operates the Delhi, Hyderabad and Goa airports. GMR is modernizing Nagpur airport and developing Bhogapuram (Visakhapatnam). It also manages Bidar airport in Karnataka.